I use this bike for casual rides, and its great used on potholed street, and light gravel/dirt riding, but rides fast on flat pavement.
The components (drivetrain) can be better... but thats for future projects (the bicycle is too new @> 1 month new)
The folks at cycleworld bikes were helpful and friendly.

I recently switched from a true mountain bike to the Cannondale Quick CX2. The Quick CX2 is a WAY better bike for fitness! Not only is the CX2 a fast, smooth ride on the rode, it also transitions very well off rode. The components are silky, the brakes are equally smooth (and work very well).
The biggest physical change I have noticed with my fitness goal is the Quick CX2 allows me to cover more ground in the same amount of time and isn't taxing on my joints. The riding position is very comfortable and doesn't put strain on my neck, wrists or shoulders. My mountain bike really kicked my butt in a negative way. I feel much better after a long ride on my CX2 (I like to limit card to a 30 min max. I found that the path I usually take was a good 8 mins shorter so I added a few city blocks to make time).
I injured my knee while running a 10k three months ago (diagnosed as "runners knee"). I needed to find an alternative and decided to buy a bike. After researching all styles, models etc. I concluded that the Cannondale "bad boy" was the bike I wanted. Ironically, my company had a sales contest and offered the "top three" an incentive. The Bad Boy was one of the prizes and I won it! The dealer who we get the bikes from was "sold out" of the Bad Boy and offered the quick cx2 as a conciliation. Luckily for me, I ended up with a bike I like even better than the bad boy (rode both and know the CX2 is the right bike for me).
If I where to buy a bike it would be the Cannondale CX2 (luckily I won it so I added a computer, water hottie holders and pedals)!